Rompetrol lowers fuel prices

Cheaper oil on international market has prompted Romanian energy players to lower their prices. While Petrom, the main oil company in the country, cut its prices last week, Rompetrol announced on Tuesday it would practice lower prices starting today.

Rompetrol announced a 3 bani (1 ban=0.01 RON) cut for gasoline prices and a 1 ban cut for diesel prices, bringing its Premium E Plus gasoline to 3.41 RON/litre and its Euro Super 98 to 3.91 RON/litre.

Rompetrol had announced similar cuts on September 25.

HotNews.ro, Oct 3, 2006

The Sun: Bucharest children sold to pedophiles for 150 euro

The spread of child trafficking in Bucharest lures the interest of British tabloid The Sun which reports that Romanian children may sell for as low as 150 euro to British pimps.

The report is based on the personal experience of British journalists who posed as British pimps who negotiated their way through the Romanian capital at a time when legislation is currently discussed on pedophilic activities.

The undercover investigation by The Sun reporters shows they received tempting offers in Bucharest, including one with child procurers that offered three boys aged 10 to 11 for as low as 150 euro each.

Two of the boys - Vasile, a 10 year-old smoker, and Danut, 11 - were pictured in the British newspaper report.

The Sun reports that an increasing number of pedophiles are travelling to countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic to profit from a vacuum of legislation regarding pedophiles in these countries.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006

President validates new prosecutor-general

Romanian President Traian Basescu signed a degree on Monday naming Laura Corduta Kovesi as the new prosecutor-genweral of the High Court of Justice, a presidency press release says.

The move comes after the main body of Romanian magistrates, the Supreme Council of Magistrates-CSM, voted unanimously in favour Justice minister Monica Macovei’s nomination of Kovesi for the job as Romania’s prosecutor general.

Laura Codruta Kovesi, 33, has been heading a local branch of the anti-terrorism, anti-organized crime body DIICOT since January 2006.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006

Bloomberg: Final offers for Romanian Savings House to be submitted on October 5

The improved financial offers for the privatization of the Romanian Savings House - CEC will be submitted on October 5 this year, according to Hungarian online newspaper Portfolio.hu, quoting Bloomberg. The new date challenges previous information that mentioned October 10 as the deadline for CEC offer submission.

The news comes as last week Romanian Finance minister Sebastian Vladescu said the deadline will be set in October, with no specific date in this regard.

Two finalists - OTP Bank and National Bank of Greece - face each other in the last confrontation over CEC. The two were expected to submit their improved offers by August 31 this year, but have requested an audit on the financial results for the last six months, accoding to IFRS accounting standards.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006

Managers expect price boosts in all sectors of Romanian economy

Romanian managers believe the economic activity in industry, retail and services sector will grow considerably in the coming three months, as will prices applied in each of these sectors, according to a September study by the National Statistics Institute, published on Monday.

The only tendency to stabilize can be met in the construction works sector, the document shows, but it will also be confronted with a rise in prices.

Managers expect a positive evolution in the industry when it comes to production, where optimism is highest among companies with 250-499 employees.

In the retail sector, managers predict a sales growth while 51% of managers believe the economic activity will be stable, while 70% consider prices will keep growing in the coming months, but at a slower pace.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006

President Basescu: No Romanian university in Top 500

Romanian President Traian Basescu criticized the Romanian educational system harshly on Monday as the new university year opened in Romania. During a speech at the Transylvania University in Brasov, he said Romanian education was a “mediocre one”, a status that must be overcome if Romania wants to see more performance in all fields of activity.

He argued his statement with the fact that no Romanian university comes among the world’s top 500 universities and none complies with even half o the criteria to be included among the best.
Traian Basescu critica, din nou, mediocritatea

Basescu insisted that if performance is the target than the Romanian educational system must pay attention to quality, competitiveness and equal chances to all. And for that, infrastructure must improve, he said.

The President also warned that the level of performance among faculty graduates in Romania is below that requested by employing companies.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006

Romanian comes second at Miss World competition

A young high-school student become the first Romanian to rank as high as second in a Miss World competition this weekend as she seconded Czech representative Tatana Kucharova in the Miss World 2006, hosted by Warsaw over the past several days.

Ioana Valentina Boitor, 17, managed to impress the jury as she, Kucharova and Australian Sabrina Houssami stood out from a throng of 103 contestants from five continents.

Boitor had managed to claim the Miss World Romania 2006 earlier this year. At 1.78 m, the Satu Mare-born Romanian likes sports, R&B music and dance.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006